Random lockups with new sandybridge system

cactusweasel · 14 May 2011 at 14:19

Hi there,

I've just recently sorted myself with an i5 2500k, asus sabertooth p67 board and 2x 2gb of the red g.skill ram (1600mhz stuff) and i've been having very occasional lockups since i've built the system. When it happens, the screen and mouse freezes up, sometimes get a squeal from the speakers. Hitting the reset button doesn't do anything for about 10 secs, then it seems to power down and back up again.

These lockups seem to happen randomly and maybe once every day or couple of days. I've had it a few times now while playing operation flashpoint, and a couple of times just seconds after windows boots up.

System temps are absolutely fine, cpu is 34 idle, 58-59 with prime running, graphics card about 70-75 under load so its not anything over heating.

Thing i've tried - BIOS is updated to latest version, CPU is running at stock speeds, memory is manually configured to the correct voltage/timing, memtest for 8+ hours turned up nothing unusual, prime95 and furmark for hours didn't result in any crashes/errors either.

The only other couple of strange things going on, which may or may not be related.... I have an old 160gb drive i've got osx installed on and sometimes the BIOS doesnt pick up this drive in the list when its booting. I also disabled the on board audio a few minutes ago and when windows booted up, it was moaning that it couldnt install drivers for the onboard LAN even though it was installed already. A reboot sorted that.

I'm at a loss really, reading about on the net, there does seem to be a lot of people with memory issues on sandybridge boards, so my next course of action was to try different memory although I don't have any to hand so can't do that right at this minute. Given the other couple of weird issues above i'm dreading the motherboard could be dodgy instead.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Plec · 14 May 2011 at 14:26

If you haven't got any other memory to hand you could try running your existing memory on slightly looser timings and at 1333MHz - and run with it for a few days. (although you have been quite thorough already - but there is the rare occasion that memtest doesn't identify a flakey/incompatible stick)

The other thing i would try is diconnecting the 160Gb drive (if it's not needed) for a couple of days (i can't run my old maxtors on my P67A-C45).

I would also try swapping out cables for spare ones - such as the sata and the kettle lead etc -as these can sometimes cause sporadic problems.

Edit: i would try the memory first and then the HDD.

cactusweasel · 14 May 2011 at 14:36

Ok cheers I will try the memory thing, I forgot to add that I had already tried disconnecting the 160gb drive however the lockups continued.

Plec · 14 May 2011 at 14:47

cactusweasel said:
Ok cheers I will try the memory thing, I forgot to add that I had already tried disconnecting the 160gb drive however the lockups continued.

NP.

If you do have any spare cables it's a wothwhile test swapping them out. It's a quick and easy test and would be another thing to tick off your troubleshooting list.

In a past build i had a sata cable, attached to a backup drive, causing randoms BSODs until i isolated the problem.

Good luck.

cactusweasel · 17 May 2011 at 21:24

Bit of an update, trying the memory at 1333 had no effect, and i'm in the middle of changing sata cables around incase thats the problem.

However i've noticed a couple more things - the freezing seems to be developing a pattern - it always seems to be on a cold start, just after booting windows.

Also, i've noticed that along with the 160gb hd not being detected sometimes, my external 2.5" hd will not work on the front panel usb (makes clicking noises, tries to spin up but cant) almost like theres not enough power, but on the rear usb sockets and on my monitors usb sockets, it works fine. I also had a problem this morning with my mouse not working at all, until I unplugged it and plugged it back in.

Sounding a bit like either motherboard or psu, what do you guys think?

Orcvader · 17 May 2011 at 21:34

I'm guessing the motherboard, there seems to be loads of problems cropping up from Asus 6 series boards...

Try flashing the BIOS if possible?

cactusweasel · 17 May 2011 at 22:23

Aye i've got the latest bios on already, I've got a spare PSU which i'll give a quick try, but failing that I think its looking like the motherboard right enough.

Cheers